Just got 10 flower mantid nymphs need food help...

[IMRickJames]

Hi,

I was just give 10 nymphs by a local flower shop - don't ask me why they had them!! I was wondering what the best food for them would be. I bought some baby crickets from the local store and they are feeding on them well. But, I am curious if this is the best food. Also how often and how much should I be feeding this guys.

Rick James

 

[Peekaboo]

Do you know what kind of mantids they are and how large they are?

If you don't, could you provide any pictures for us?

 

[Joe]

These guys can be fed crickets and roaches, but they prefer flying insects like flies, moths and butterflies. and wow a flower shop had them, only my pet shop has one or 2 of those a year.

Joe

 

[worldofmantis]

My pet shops say that praying mantises are just bugs and when i compare them to reptiles fish and spiders they say that they are different and that reptiles and fish are diferent and that spiders are arachnids not bugs. When i try to explain that arachnid is just the type of class that they are in such as spider is to arachnid as mantis is to mantodae they just say yea right we dont sell bugs if we want some bugs well just go outside and grab an ant or two.

they have no idea and they make me mad

 

[IMRickJames]

I think that these guys are to small to eat flies! The crickets that I got were really small - "pinheads". I saw somewhere that I should try feeding them fruitflies and ordered some.

Sorry I don't have a digital camera, but from the pictures that I've seen on line I think that they are Creoboter gemmatus. Right now I have all of them together. Should I seperate them?

RJ

 

[worldofmantis]

Well since you probably dont know there lv you probably should.

 

[Peekaboo]

Yes, definitely seperate them soon. It sounds like they have molted once or twice, if they are tackling pinhead crickets. Fruit flies are definitely the way to go, until they get larger.

Like Joe said, they can be fed crickets, but prefer flying food. Typically, they're a sit and wait mantid, meaning they wait for the food to come to them.

Sometimes I catch food such as flies and moths for my mantids. Careful though, if you live in an area where it's likely that people in surrounding areas have used pesticides, you may not want to catch live food for them.